Through the form of a ‘cautionary tale’, The Cross of Love tells the story of a naive lighthouse keeper’s daughter who longs for a life in the big city. One stormy night when a suave stranger is rescued from drowning by her father, she decides to elope with him to the city against her father’s wishes.

What transcends The Cross of Love above its genre is the wild energy that the director imbues in the film with scenes that dizzyingly alternate from the absurd to the sublime, creating a frenzied montage of sin and redemption that achieves an almost religious fervour.

Film print and stills courtesy of the National Audiovisual Archive (Finland). Special thanks to Satu Laaksonen.